Method of treating waste organic matter



Mar. 3, 1925.,

A. MACLACHLAN METHOD OF TREATING WASTfi ORGANIC MATTER Filed July 23, 1920 Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANGUS MAGLACHLAN, OF PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNO-R T0 M ACLACHLAN L REDUCTION PROCESS 00., NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHQD 0F TREATING WASTE ORGANIC MATTER.

Application filed July 28, 1920. Serial No. 399,588.

10 ing waste organic matter, such as garbage,

slaughter house waste. and the like, and

among the objects of the invention are the.

more thorough and economic separation of the grease from the other constituents of such waste organic matter, the consequent recovery of amuch larger portion of the grease than has been heretofore possible, and the production of a grease which is extremelypur'e and which is substantially free of fatty acids- A'further object is to reduce the time con-' sumed in treating waste organic matter of various sorts, and to prevent any obnoxious odors from being formed during the treatment.

This application is a continuation both 0 my application Ser. No. 263,814, filed No vember 23, 1918, and of my application Ser. No. 302,243, filed June 6, 1919, as to common subject matter. i

One of the advantages of my improved method resides in the fact that very few, if any, changes need be made in the devices which are in present use for this general purpose, especially in slaughter housesand fertilizer plants. Prior modes of treatment usually consist in a. preliminary cooking with steam or digesting of the waste organic substances to be reduced followed by drying,

With this mode of treatment,

however, on account of the fact that such a large quantity of grease remained in theresulting cake,

after being pressed, degreasmg was necessary by treatment with naphtha or similar substances. By vmy improved process, a

is substantially free from fatty acids,

and the residue dries .out with great readiness, forming a flufl'y mass practically free from grease and also odorless. Furthermore, the time required with my improved rocess is very much less than that required y methods now in use.

or pressingand drying of the substances.-

purer quality In my applications referred to, I have described a method of treating waste organic substances with an oxidizing gas such as sulphur dioxide, and the present method may includes'ome of the steps described in these prior applications. It will beobvious, however, that some of the steps described in the present application may be used as preliminary to some of the steps described in said prior applications.

-An important feature of the present invention relates to the treatment of the waste .organic matter in the green state directly by the oxidizing gas for the purpose of, causing a separation of the water, dirt and fatty acid forming substances from the stituents of such matter. The. water, dirt and fatty-acid-forming substances are heavier than the oily ingredients of the tank and fall to the bottom thereof as a precipitate.

may be utilized by itself, or as a preliminary step in the treatment of the waste matter prior to cooking or other further treatment. By this preliminary treatment with the oxidizing gas, however, it results that a great deal of the water is removed more quickly than by the method of cooking. There is also less danger of ,fatty acids being formed. As in my rior applications, the oxidizing gas which and this may be introduced in anysuitable manner into the substances'to for this purpose I prefer to employ steam. 11 order to show more clearly how my improved process is carried out in practice I have. shown, cally, an apparatus suitable for this Referring to the drawings, 2 in icates-a tank which may be ofany suitable construction, and said tank may be that which is usually used for cooking or digesting waste organic matter, or it may be of s 191 conurpose.

.struction. The matter may be mtr'oduced into the tank at the opening 4 at the to An opening near the bottom of the ta may be closed by a valve 6, controlled by a hand wheel 8. I

i When the tank has been suifioiently charged with matter to be treated, I introduce therein the oxidizing gas, and I prefer 'to use sul hur dioxide for this purpose.

he introduced under pressure, or

This ma may be wn through the waste matter.

oily conprefer to use is sulphur dioxide,

more or less diagrammatt' .As suggested, this feature-of the invention be treated, and

. The sulphur dioxide may be formed by als which from experience have been found of water, dirt, and other substances burning sulphur in contact with air. In the drawings I have shown a cylinder 16, which is supported at its two ends by grooved rollers 18 and also at its lowest point. (onnected with the axis 20 of these rollers is a gear member 22 which is connected to a motor, whereby the cylinder 16 is caused to slowly rotate. Crude sulphur is introduced into the cylinder and ignited, air being supplied abundantly through the opening 26. The end of the cylinder opposite the opening 26 has a reduced portion 28 which projects into a larger opening 30 in a chamber 32 into which the gases enter on their way to the tank 2. The portion 28 is small.- er than the opening 30, so that air freely enters the chamber 32 and the sulphur is completely oxidized within said chamber. This chamber may be of T-shape, as shown, having an upper opening 34 into which fits the lower portion of a T member 36. 'A steam pipe 38 passes into the chamber 36 and, as shown, terminates near the point 40 in a conveyor pipe 42. this conveyor pipe being slightly reduced in diameter at 40. Steam acts to aspirate the S0 gas generated in the chambers 16 and 32, and a. mixture of-steam and S0 passes into the tank 2 and through the contents thereof, the pipe: entering the tank passing down and terminating near the lower portion thereof. i

My improved process consists in subjecting the tank contents in its raw or greenstate, with or without the addition of water,.to the action of SO for a suificient time to cause separation of water, dirt or other materials, and especially such materito contribute largely to the production of fatty acids if allowed'to remain mixed with the organic matter. After sufiicient treatment, the water and other substances which have been precipitated are drawn off through the opening in the bottom of the tank, or removed in any other desired manner.

At this stage in the process the residue in the tank may. if desired, be'pressed to remove the grease and then dried in any well {known way; but instead of removing the residue fromthe tank at this stage in the treatment, I prefer to add further waste matter to the tank contents and subject the same to further treatment with SO, for a sufiicient time to cause further precipitzgion the more oily. constituents of the organic matter and this precipitate again drawn 0E. The foregoing steps of the process may be repeated as many times as desired, and until the tank is substantially fullof comparatively solid matter. Pv this means saving in tankage space is efiec.

This more or lesssolid tter, which been freed of a very large proportion of water, dirt and particularly the fatty acidforming substances, may be subjected to drying or to pressing, or both, or toany further desired treatment, or to a cooking or digesting process such as is commonly employed. Such cooking is well known and consists usually in introducing live steam into the tank. After the digesting and cooking step has been completed, if this step is taken, the tank contents is again subjected tothe act-ion of S0 and steam-for a sufficient time to cause practically a complete separation of the grease-still remaining'in the waste matter. Any further precipitate may be drawn ofi',;and the tank contents subjected to further treatment as desired. Such further treatment may consistin drying, filtering or pressing, either alone or in any combination. During the drying process, when this step is taken, dry SO may be used as described in my application Ser. No. 302,243. Variations may be resorted to within the scope and spirit of my invention, and some of the steps of the process may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of treating waste organic 'matter, which consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a suflicient time to cause a separation of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing off the precipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, treating said residue with SO after cooking, drawing ofi any further precipitate, and subjecting the residue to pressure to remove the grease.

2. The method of treating waste organic matter, 'which consists in subjectingsaid matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of S0,, for a suflioient time to cause a separation of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing ofithe precipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, and treating said residue with SO after cooking.

'3. The method of treating waste organic matter, which consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a suflicient time to cause a separation of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing ofi' the precipitate.

thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, treating said residue with SO after cooking, and drawing of any further precipitate.

4. The method of treating waste organic matter, which consists in subjecting said matter, .which consists in matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a sufficient time to cause a separation of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing-off the precipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, treating said residue with SO after cooking, and subjecting the same to pressureto remove the grease. 5. The method of treating waste organic subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a suflicient time to cause a separation of thewater and fatty-acid-formin substances from the other constituents 'of the organic matter, drawing off the precipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, treating said residue with SO after cooking, drawing oif any further precipitate, and subjecting said residue to pressure to remove the grease.

6. The method of treating waste organic matter, which consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a sufiicient time to cause a separation of the water and other heavier substances from' the other constituents of the organic matter and drawing on the precipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue'after cooking-to the further action of S0,, to cause the further separation of-grease.

7. The method of treating waste organic matter, which consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action 3 of SO for a suflicient time to cause a separation of the water and other heavier-substances from the other constituents of the organic matter and drawing ofl the precipitate thus formed, after cooking to the further action of S0 to cause the further separation of grease, and subjecting the tank contents to pressure to remove the grease.

. 8. The method of treating waste organic matter, which. consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action of SO for a sufiicient time to cause a sep aration of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing off the reeipitate thus formed, subjecting the resi no in the receptacle to cook1ng,'and--treating said residue in the receptacle to cooking, and treating said residue with SO after cooking.

9. The method of treating waste organic matter, which consists in subjecting said matter in a suitable receptacle to the action.-

of SO for a sufficient time to cause a a'ration of the water and fatty-acid-forming substances from the other constituents of the organic matter, drawing off the recipitate thus formed, subjecting the residue in the receptacle to cooking, treating said residue with S0 after cooking, drawing oif any further precipitate, and subjecting the residue to pressure to remove the ase.

Signed at New York city, N. Y., this 14th day of June, 1920. I t

ANGUS MACLAOHLAN.

subjecting the residue 

